The First Sinner
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“Now the
serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God
had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat
from any tree of the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1). The serpent (Hebrew: natash),
bright one, shinning one, was extremely beautiful. This was obviously not the
serpent that we know of today. In fact, there was much more to this snake in
the garden than at first met the woman’s eye. In order to identify the real snake behind this snake, we
must take a short glimpse into the realm of angels. The Old Testament word for angel is “malach,” which means messenger. In the New Testament the word angel is “angelos,” messenger. ·
Angels were characterized by
wisdom. “In order to change the appearance of things your
servant Joab has done this thing. But my lord is wise, like the wisdom of the
angel of God, to know all that is in the earth” (2 Sam. 14:20). ·
Angels were characterized by
strength. “Bless
the LORD, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying
the voice of His word” (Psa. 103:20). ·
Angels were created to worship and
glorify God. “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a
throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his
face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called
out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole
earth is full of His glory’” (Isa. 6:1-3; see also, Eze. 1:5; Rev. 4: 8). ·
Angels were created as God’s ministers.
“Are they not all
ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who
will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14). ·
Evil angels are being used upon the earth to orchestrate
rebellion against God’s kingdom. Daniel
was in captivity in Babylon. He asked God for information concerning Israel’s
future. The angel Gabriel appeared to him. “Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on
my hands and knees. He said to me, ‘O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand
the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been
sent to you.’ And when he had
spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, ‘Do not be
afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on
understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were
heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of
the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold,
Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there
with the kings of Persia’” (Dan. 10:10-13). The prince of the kingdom of Persia was not a human being (verse 13)! This prince was an angel. This
angel had prevented Gabriel from coming to Daniel for 21 days. Michael, the
archangel (Jude 1:9), came to
Gabriel's rescue freeing him to get to Daniel. Such angelic activity is evidently taking place today. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph.
6:12). Gabriel continued to speak to Daniel. “Then he said, ‘Do you understand why I came to you? But
I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going
forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come’” (Dan. 10:20). Notice
again the prince behind the king of Persia. Now
back to Ezekiel as he is speaking to the human king of Tyre. Ezekiel called him “the prince of
Tyre” (Eze. 28:1-10). This king
was consumed with pride. He was in control of much of the sea trade of the
ancient world and was very wealthy. In fact, he was so arrogant that he
considered himself to be a god (Eze. 28:2). Ezekiel did not refer to him as
“king” but he called him a “prince.” In the
course of the conversation, it seems most likely that Ezekiel began to
address this prince. “Again the word of the LORD came to me saying, ‘Son of man, take
up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord
GOD, You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering:
The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The
lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of
your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they
were prepared. You were the
anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy
mountain of God” (Ezek. 28:11-14). This prince
had been the “seal of perfection.” Literally, he said, “You seal up the sum,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.”
Quoting
Arnold Fruchtenbaum (Footsteps of
the Messiah; page 383): “When God set out to do His creative work, He limited
His creation to a specific pattern and did not choose to go beyond it. When
the animals were created, they filled up only a portion of the pattern. When
man was created, he filled up some more of the pattern. Angels filled even a
bit more. But when God created Satan, he filled up the entire pattern in two
areas: wisdom and beauty.” Ezekiel
may have been speaking with Satan himself. If this is speaking of the devil,
this angelic being once had a lofty position before God. Ezekiel referred to
him as “the anointed
cherub.” There
were three separate ranks of beings in the angelic realm. The lowest rank
were the angels under the command of Michael the archangel. Next were the
seraphim. The Hebrew word “seraphim”
means, “burning ones.” Fire in the Bible implies judgment. Evidently these
angels were to carry out judgment for God (Isa. 6:1-3). The highest order of angels was the
cherubim. The name “cherubim”
means, “to cover.” The cherubim were anointed to protect God’s throne in
order to preserve His holiness.
The devil may have once been one of these anointed angels. The garden of God was not located in Eden. That garden,
as we shall see, was a garden of trees and plants. The garden described here
was a mineral garden. It evidently served as this angel’s original dwelling
place. The “Original” Original Sin “You were blameless
in your ways From the day you were
created Until unrighteousness was found in you” (Eze.28:15). “Until”
is a time word. At a moment in
time unrighteousness was found to be in this anointed cherub. The details of
this moment of unrighteousness are found in Isaiah 14:12-14. Like Ezekiel,
Isaiah was at first speaking with the human king of Babylon. But all of a
sudden it becomes obvious that he was speaking to someone behind this human
king. “How you have fallen from
heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the
earth, You who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will
ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will
sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High’” (Isa. 14:10-14). It is
obvious that king of Babylon had not been in heaven. And notice that Isaiah
refers to him as “Lucifer.” Lucifer is translated glistening one or shining
one. This may be a description
of the original original sin. ·
I will ascend to heaven. I will
start my climb to the lofty position of God Himself. ·
I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will
take over as commander and chief of the angelic realm. ·
I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the recesses
of the north. I will
rule over Israel which is a position reserved for the Messiah. ·
I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds. I will take upon myself
glory that is reserved for God alone. ·
I will make myself like the Most High. Lucifer’s ultimate goal was to take for himself
the position of God. God judged Lucifer because of His pride, and he became
Satan, the adversary of God. God cast him out of heaven and reserved for him
judgment (Matt. 25:41). Satan
is brilliant, but God is the ultimate genius. Satan has a plan, but God has
the master plan. “God
will do according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth,” records the prophecy of Daniel (Dan. 4:35). Satan is a creature. He is limited.
He is not omniscient, omnipotent, nor omnipresent. (For more, see “The Fall.”) Sources New
American Standard Bible Arnold
Fruchtenbaum Donald
G. Barnhouse |
Did you think that the first sinner was Eve? You may be wrong!
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